Sewing-machine lap-seam feller



No. 62I,038. Patented Mar. I4, |899.

(. H. W. CUR-TIS.

SEWING MACHINE LAP SEAM FELLER.

(Applicaeiun mad bec. 31, 1897,)

(Model.)

UNITED STATESA PATENT OFFICE.

lrEORGE H. I/V. CURTIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGN OR TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

SEWING-MACHINE LAP-SEAM FELLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent N o. 621,088, dated March 14, 1899.

I Application iled December 31, 1897. Serial No. 664,979. (Model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. W. CURTIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York andV State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machine Lap- Seam Fellers, of which the following is a speciiication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention has for its object to provide a sewing-machine lap-seam feller adapted for use in connection with fabrics of varying thicknesses and by the use of which lap-seams across lap-seams may be made in heavy goods without danger of clogging or choking the feller when the thick parts of the work at the crossing seams are passing through the feller.

To this end the improved feller is preferably mounted on or attached to a sliding plate connected with the feed-bar of the machine so as to be moved back and forth horizontally with the latter. Thus the feller, with the work therein, will be moved forward with the feeding device as the latter advances in feeding the work and will be moved backward when the feed-bar is retracted. The feed-bar is so timed as to perform its backward movement mostly or wholly during the intervals of time when the needle or needles are in the work,

and thus the feller will be moved or slid backward relative to the stationary `work when the latter is held by the needle or needles, and should there be any considerable pull between the feller and work owing to the passage through the feller of thick portions, like crossing seams, this pull will be resisted by the needle or needles of the machine and the clamping action of the presser-foot and workplate. This will at all times insure a uniform forward movement 0l' the work, (the feller traveling backward positively on the latten) a result which is notalways secured when the feed is depended upon to pull the work through the feller, the resistance being sometimes so great at crossing seams in heavy goods that the pull of the feed fails to overcome it and imperfect work results. To further facilitate the passage of thick parts of the work through the feller, the latter is .made in two parts,

each of nwhich has an elastic portion whichv will yield when any considerable pressure is applied thereto.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view of the front end of the work-plate of a two-needle sewing-machine equipped with the improved feller, and Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side view of the feller with its shank or baseplate partly broken away. Fig. 4 is a front end view of the same with the base-plate in section. Fig. 5 is a rear end view of the feller; and Fig. 6, a vertical cross-section of the same on line 6 6, Fig. 3.

A denotes the base-plate of the feller, said base-plate being attached by a lug or dowelpin a and a screw d to a sliding plateb, provided with a depending pin b', which is engaged by the feed-bar c, reciprocated in any suitable or well-known manner, beneath the throat-plate c. The hole in the plate A, through which the screw a passes, is somewhat elongated, so that said plate, with the feller thereon, can be adjusted or swung laterally on the lug or pin ot as a center to a limited extent to bring the feller into any desired position of adjustment relative to the needle or needles of the machine.

Adjustably attached to the plate A by a screw a2 is a plate D, having a laterally-extending rigid guard-arm CZ, provided with two curved slots CZ and cl2, separated from each other by a portion of `said arm, and the latter having at its outer end an upright portion or standard d3, which supports what may be termed the upper part or upper member of the feller in that it turns or folds in the edge of the overlying section of fabric, although when the fold is completed this folded or turned over edge of the upper section comes beneath the edge of the other section of fabric. This upper member of the feller consists of the plate E, having a xed flange or wing e, forming the upper part of the scroll, and the plate e', yieldingly mounted on aplate E and having a curved lower part c2, which forms the lower part of the scroll. The plate E has a right-angular part or flange es, hung on a pin e4, with which the standard cl3 is provided, a set-screw e5, passing through a hole or slot in said liange, serving to rigidly at- ICO tach said plate E to said standard. The hole in the iiange c3, through which the screw e5 passes, is preferably sufficiently large to permit of a limited adjustment of the platel` on the pin c, so as to place the scroll of the upper member of the feller nearer to or farther from the scroll of the other member of the feller, and this limited adjustment may be augmented by the adjustment afforded by the slot-and-screw connection of plate D with the plate A, hereinbefore described.

The plate e' is provided with a steadyinglug e, fitting in a slot e7 in the plate E, said plate c being movably connectedwith or attached to said plate E by a screw e8, beneath the head of which is a plate e9, slightly wider than said slot e7. A small spring elo, pressing against the lower side of the head of the screw es, serves to hold the plate e' in a raisedposition, but permits said plate to yield when any considerable pressure comes against the lower part e2 of the scroll carried by said plate e. Owing to the fact that the plate e' is a thin steel plate and is thus of itself elastic the scroll part e2 can yield outwardly or laterally, if necessary, as well as downwardly.

What maybe termed the lower member of the feller is formed by a curved wing f, formed on or rigidly attached to the base-plate A, and a partial scroll f, carried by a springplate f2, attached to said base-plate by ascrew f3. The plate f2 will yield upwardly when any considerable pressure is applied to the` partial scroll f', thereby rendering the lower member of the feller expansible as well as the upper member.

To permit of a free downward movement of the scroll part e2 of the upper member of the feller, the base-plate A of the feller is cut away beneath the feller7 as is also the throatplate c. To hold the work up, however, the

throat-plate is provided with an upwardly-4 pressin gtongue or spring-plate c2, which while it will hold the fabric up lsnugly against the scroll part e2 when a normal thickness of Work is passing through the feller will yield downwardly when said scroll part is forced downward by a thick part or lump in the work, such as must pass through the feller ata crossing seam.

Owing to the fact that the rigid guard-arm d, in which the curved entrance-slots d' and d2 are formed, is of comparatively thick metal it is possible to round off the edges of the walls of said slots so that a thick part of the work, as a passing seam to be crossed by the seam being formed, will not catch on the front of the feller when entering the same. It has heretofore been found dific ult to prevent this catching of the work on fellers the thin edges of the plates of which formed the entrances, even when the entrance ends or edges of the plates were ared or bent outward to avoid the difficulty; but this trouble is avoided in 3 the present invention by the transverse arm 3 d, in which the curved entrance-slots are formed and which is located in front of, and

thus serves as a guard for, the scrolls of the feller, the edges of the walls of said entranceslots being properly rounded, as above described.

, From the foregoing it will be apparent that the improved feller consists of two independent parts or members, each of which has a flexible or yielding scroll part, thereby rendering each member eXpansible, so that there will be no danger of clogging or choking the feller in forming crossing lap-seams, and it will also be apparent that although the two members of the improved feller are connected to or supported by a common base-plate one member is adjustable toward and from the other to adapt the feller to diiferent kinds of work, as on light or heavy goods. It will also be understood that the positive backward movements of the reciprocating feller while the work is held by the needle or needles and the presser-.foot will always insure an even feed of the work notwithstanding any resistance which maybe offered by thick parts, as passing seams, going through or moving relative to the feller.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. A sewing-machine lap-seam feller comprising a base-plate and two independent scroll parts or elements both of which are connected with and thus supported. by said base-plate, one of said parts or elements having a flexible or yielding top portion and the other a flexible or yielding bottom portion.

2. A sewing-machine lap-seam feller comprising a base-plate and two independent scroll parts or elements both of which are connected therewith and one of which is adjustable laterally toward and from the other, one of said parts or elements havinga fiexible or yielding top port-ion and the other a iieXible or yielding bottom portion.

3. A sewing-machine lap-seam feller comprising longitudinally extending plates or scroll parts, coinbined with a transverse rigid guard-arm arranged in front of the said scroll parts and provided with the curved entranceslots d and d2 through which the fabrics pass to the scrolls, said slots being separated from each other by a portion of said arm.

4. A sewing-machine lap-seam feller comprising longitudinally-eXtending plates or scroll parts, combined with, a transverse guard-arm arranged in front of the said scroll parts and provided with the curved entranceslots d' and d2 through which the fabrics pass to the scrolls, said feller consisting of two independent parts or elements one of which is supported by an upright or standard, with which said transverse guard-plate is provided, and the other of which is directly supported by or attached to the base-plate of the feller.

5. A lap-seam feller having a base-plate which is cut away beneath the feller-scrolls, combined with a sewing-machine work-plate IOO IIO

or throat-plate which is also cut away or recessed beneath the feller-scrolls, and an upwardly-pressin g spring plate or tongue placed beneath said scrolls, and serving to hold the work up against the latter but adapted' to yield when necessary.

6. The combination with a lap-seam feller comprising scroll portions one of which has an elastic or downwardly-yielding part, of an upwardly-pressing spring-plate or tongue arranged beneath said. scroll portion and serving to hold up the material, but adapted to yield when the said elastic part is forced downward by a thick portion of the work.

7 The combination with a reciprocating sewing-machine feed-bar, of a sliding plate connected with said feed-bar to reciprocate therewith, a lap-seam feller having a baseplate attached to said sliding plate, said feller consisting of two independent scroll parts or elements one of which is laterally adjustable relative to the other.

8. The combination with a reciprocating sewing-machine feed-bar, of a sliding plate connected with said feed-bar to reciprocate therewith, a lap-seam feller having a baseplate attached to said sliding plate, said feller consisting of two independent scroll parts or elements one of which is laterally adjustable relative to the other, and one of said scroll parts having an elastic or flexible top and the other thereof having an elastic or flexible bottom.

9. In a lap-seam feller, the combination with the base-plate A, of the plate E having ingly mounted on said plate E and having the curved scroll part e2, the curved Wing f fixed relative to said base-plate, the springplate f 2 provided with the scroll part f and the transverse arm D having the curved slots d and d2. In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE H. WV. CURTIS.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. MILLER, HAROLD W. BROWN. 

